When mounting either a non-rechargeable Alkaline battery pack or a rechargeable Ni-Cd battery pack, an electronic apparatus, such as a portable scanner, portable telephone, lap top computer, and the like, provides for an extra switch or other manual selection means to prevent an external charging voltage from being applied to the non-rechargeable battery pack because of the danger, such as explosion, that may occur if the external charging voltage is applied to the non-rechargeable battery pack. Operation of this extra switch or other means causes problems because an operator might not recognize in advance which type of battery pack is to be mounted, chargeable or non-rechargeable.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide structure for causing an electronic apparatus to discriminate automatically between two types of battery packs, a non-rechargeable battery pack and a chargeable battery pack, which are to be mounted to the electronic apparatus. Because the electronic apparatus automatically determines the type of battery pack mounted to the electronic apparatus, an operator does not need to pay special attention to the operation of the extra switch or other manual selection means provided in the prior art.